


Alone We are Trouble; Together, We are at War

by a_xmasmurder



Category: James Bond - Fandom, Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: And kicking Kaiju ass, Drifting, Friendship, Fusion, Gen, History, Jaegers, Losing people, M/M, Neural Handshake, PTSD, Rangers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-12-30 03:36:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_xmasmurder/pseuds/a_xmasmurder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James and Alec make an unlikely Jaeger team. Baggage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alone We are Trouble; Together, We are at War

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lestradesexwife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lestradesexwife/gifts).



> Oh, lord. This is only one chapter in something that might be eating me for a while. Ever since I'd heard about PacRim, I had to do something. And then lestradesexwife did the thing, and I've been hooked with it. So.
> 
> happy birthday, darling Lexxx. This one's for you, too.
> 
> Story title comes from "Kickstart the Fight" by Combichrist.

_Darkness._

_Smoke. Heavy, acrid._

_Heat, seeping through the drive suit clinging to his body, to his bones._

_The scent of blood, everywhere. His blood, Kaiju blood, Michael’s blood...blood. So much blood._

_A death’s head grin, staring up at him from the deck of the crippled Jaeger. He struggles to get away from the burnt remains of Michael..._

 

_...trapped. He’s trapped in the harness. He can’t get out. His breaths come hard, punching out of his lungs. He can’t move his right arm - it’s been ripped off. Dull ache in his shoulder. He can’t feel his fingers._

_He can move his left arm, though, and starts yanking at the connections on the back of his suit, slipping and sliding through the blood covering him._

_A child, screaming in the distance. He looks up and sees the kitchen of Skyfall Lodge. The warm smells of home, no longer calming but frightening. A soft woman’s hand on his shoulder, a gruff man’s voice telling him that Mother and Father weren’t coming home, that they’d died on that trip. He runs from the voices, runs from the pain and fear. He opens the trapdoor, shuts it behind him._

_He’s not in the tunnels._

_He’s underwater, shot off a train. Pain sparks through his brain and his body._

_He tries taking a breath, but his instincts fight him, locking his jaws shut. Bubbles trail up from his suit. A streak of pale red dirties the water as he sinks. The light fades, until there’s only darkness. He knows his eyes are open, but there’s still nothing. He blinks, the water burning his eyes, the blood burning his eyes, the heat and flame and smoke burning…_

“James...too far...rabbit...come back…”

_Come back? From what? He’s dead. Dead and gone, and washing up on a shore in the Mediterranean, somewhere he didn’t recognise._

“Don’t go down...he’s too far already...neural handshake...unstable…”

_He sucks in a breath, but it’s not air, it’s blood._

“It’s a memory, James. Listen to my voice. Come back up.”

_Blood. Everywhere._

_Blood._

“James BOND!”

 

He blinks.

 

He breathes.

 

He’s back in the drift simulation tank. He’s on the steel and iron floor, on his arse, gasping for air. He stares at the two-way glass partition, stares at the technicians. He doesn’t see them. He doesn’t even see the Marshall. He’s not seeing anything right now, and that is a good thing.

He realises there’s a warm body pressed up behind him, warm hands on his shoulders, gripping hard. Whomever is behind him is talking. He turns his head, still encased in the drift helmet, and looks into the sweat-streaked face of his new drift partner. His best friend since the Navy. The best thing he had, the only thing he still had.

“Alec.” The word comes out rough, whispered on an exhale as ragged as his brain felt.

“Welcome back, James.” Alec smiles, not the crazy grin of Michael, but the kind smile that James loved so much. It doesn’t remind him of anything at all. His head rocks back and collides with Alec’s hard shoulder. Alec’s helmet is at his hip, as is Alec’s knee. “You went walkabout for a bit, there.”

“I...chased the rabbit.” The term they use to describe the myriad of memories that one can get sucked into going into a drift. His brain still wasn’t up to words just yet, so he shut his mouth and relaxed against Alec.

“Yeah, you went pretty far. Something must have triggered it. You usually don’t have a problem.” Alec huffs and cradles James in his arms, against his chest, and slips James’ helmet off his head. “At least, not with me. What happened?”

“Dunno.” James closes his eyes and sighs. More of his higher functions are coming back online after the mental crash. He doesn’t remember the first couple of seconds of the drift. “Not good.”

“Not really. Probably have a trip to the psychiatrist after this, y’know.” Alec matches James’ sigh. “We both do. I saw it again.”

James presses his damp forehead against Alec’s neck. “What?”

“Don’t remember, actually. But I know I saw it, and I think that’s what happened.” Alec rolls his wrists and lays them on James’ chest. “Might have been me. But you went AWOL, and fast.”

James swallowed. “Yeah.”

Alec strokes his hands around to James’ arms. “It’s over. We probably won’t be drifting again for a while.” He stares at the window, and surely he sees the men and women standing in there. James is only now starting to get his brain back, and he knows that they will be grounded again, at least until the next Kaiju shows its ugly arse.

  
  
  
  
  


“What the hell happened in there?”

Having Marshall Mendez in your face after a traumatic experience isn’t the best way to end your day, but at least the man is keeping his voice at a minimum setting. James blinked at him.

“Bad memories, is all, sir.”

“That was more than a bad memory. You punched your partner, and fought him as he released you from your harness.”

 _Alec didn’t mention that._ And come to think about it, Alec’s right eye did look a bit...sore. _God damn it_. “I’m sorry.”

The head of the whole Chilean Shatterdome shakes his head. “No. Don’t apologise. It’s not a good look on you, being haunted. I’m afraid we can’t keep doing this. Every time there’s another Kaiju, you two go in like you were born for this. But outside of it, you can’t even hold a handshake for a few seconds without one of you snapping.”

James glares at Alec. “ _‘This doesn’t usually happen’_ , my arse.”

“Hey. Just trying to make you feel better.” Alec shrugs.

Mendez shakes his head again, huffing a breath out, and James knows what is about to happen. He looks at Alec, and sees the same apprehension there, too.

They are being booted.

“The Jaeger programme is being shut down, guys.”

James’ head snaps up. That...he didn’t expect that. “Oh.”

“Yes.” He sighs. “Everything is being de-commissioned. All the Jaegers, all the Shatterdomes. All of it. The Wall is nearly finished. We are not needed anymore…”

“The HELL we aren’t needed!” Alec’s outburst surprises James. “That wall isn’t going to bloody hold, and you know it, Esteban!” Alec’s calling of the Marshall by his first name also surprises James. He stares at his friend.

“I know. But this is a decision that has been taken out of everyone’s hands.” He shrugs.” It’s been...interesting, working with a couple of Britons. Enjoyable, to say the least.” Mendez nods once. “Dismissed.”

“Yes, sir.” The two words sit bitter on James’ tongue. It was certain to be the last time he’d say those words to anyone. No more MI6, no more Jaeger programme. No more. He and Alec were now strings in the wind.

The walk back to their quarters is somber and quiet. Around them, other Rangers and sundry support crews are packing and leaving, saying their goodbyes and such. James and Alec don’t interact with these people - words are met with nods, nods are met with glares. They aren’t buddy-buddy with the people around them.

Much easier to lose someone you didn’t care about.

Packing is easy, since they didn’t have much ‘stuff’. Their lives before the programme didn’t lend to gathering knick-knacks and prizes of their travels, and Alec tended to...set things on fire out of sheer neglect and absentmindedness. So neither of them have ‘things’. Clothes went into duffel bags, books went into a battered suitcase. A single picture of both of them in the Navy, set in a battered teak frame with a cracked pane of glass went in along with the books. Within minutes, they are ready to strike out for the badlands. A shared thought between them - _take Assassin Black, go rogue, strike out for Midway, call in favours and live for ourselves_ \- makes James smile. He doesn’t look at Alec this time, he can feel the grin against his brain, rippling through his synapses. They are still so close to the drift, despite it being a complete and utter failure, that this was possible - being right there, connected, in each other’s minds.

It should frighten James, having someone there, knowing the dark spaces and battered recesses of his mental state.

It doesn’t.

And then a call comes over the loudspeaker.

_**ASSASSIN BLACK REPORT TO DECK FIVE REPEAT ASSASSIN BLACK REPORT TO DECK FIVE** _

“What the - “ Alec mutters.

“Fuck?” James finishes at the same moment.

They smile at each other.

  
  
  
  
  


They pull up short as the crews turn and stare at them, wide-eyed and admiring.

James glares back, unsure of what was happening. He looks out over the bay where three Jaegers stand tall and abandoned in their berths. All the lights are out...except for Assassin Black’s berth. His - their - Jaeger is lit up like (to borrow a term from America) Christmas on the fourth of July. Techs were swinging and climbing, readying her for...transport?

Alec is the one that goes up to the Marshall Mendez. “What’s up? What is going on?”

The man turns around, and by God above, the grin on his face could light up London. “Well, looks like you two aren’t going to be mothballed, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.”

“What do you mean?” James comes up behind Alec, interested.

“Well, with your track record…”

“No, he means, what do you mean by ‘we aren’t being mothballed’?” Alec is impatient in his questioning. James can feel the excitement in his friend’s mind. _This better be good, or we are just going to take her and leave, Marshall._

“I just got a call from Marshall Pentecost.”

Both Alec’s and James’ heads jerk in surprise. “Pentecost? As in... _Pentecost?_ ” James has heard of Stacker Pentecost. Hell, everyone has heard of Stacker Pentecost. If you haven’t, then you have been dead or underground for years. The man is a legend, a bona fide modern day hero. A true hero.

“Yes. He’s going off the grid. He wants your Jaeger, and he wants you two driving it.” Mendez pokes a finger at Alec, then at James. “I told him about your problems with drifting, and he said that he needs you. He’s pulling all the stops, guys. He’s got a plan, and I don’t know what it is, but it sounds good. You are going to the Hong Kong Shatterdome now. Right. Now. Hope you’re all packed and ready.”

The surge of adrenalin shooting through his veins makes James dizzy, and it’s only compounded by Alec’s similar reaction.

“Oh, God yes. We are ready.”

Mendez smiles at them. “Get your brains sorted, or he’s going to regret this decision, alright?”

Both James and Alec nod at him. “Yes, sir.”

  
  
  
  
  


The helicopter makes a choppy landing on the pad due to the high winds coming off the bay. Alec can’t get out of the aircraft fast enough. James takes his time, making sure that they had all their bags. Once they are here, they are staying, come hell or Kaiju. Bring it all on. He can take it.

Another helicopter lands behind them, and James spots Marshall Stacker Pentecost and another man walking off of it. A small girl holding an umbrella greeted them both. The other one looks familiar, but not enough for them to worry about it. James barely gives him a second thought, though he catches snippets of what was being said over the rain hitting the tarmac.

The way the man turns the girl’s words - and language - around at her makes him smile. Those two, he’d have to watch. They already have something sparking between them.

Then, he’s being tugged along by Alec, and he follows the over-eager and excited man into the main Jaeger hangar to oversee the berthing of Assassin Black.

  
  
  
  
  


It doesn’t take long for James and Alec to run into trouble. Not long at all.

First off, that cocky Aussie jackass. Seriously. James simply stepped back and let the kid talk a big game. Yes, they know all about the father-son team that took out Mutavore. Yes, they are effective as hell. That doesn’t mean that James doesn’t want to take the kid - Chuck, he thinks his name is - to task for running his mouth. The eyeroll from Herc said it all. He and Herc get along well, talking military and Jaeger shop and admiring the only Mark-5 Jaeger in the ragtag fleet while Loudmouth and his dog go off to bitch at someone who cares.

Then there’s a fight in the mess hall that Alec breaks up with ease, only to get socked in the jaw and then it’s a free-for-all.

Alec wins, of course.

The stern talking-to they both got from Pentecost was almost worth it.

They get used to the programme easily. Pentecost gets used to them almost as quickly. He learns that where one is, the other isn’t too far behind. He watches them spar, watches them eat, watches them interact with each other.

“He’s watching us.” Alec mentions quietly.

“Looking for a crack.” James smirks and cracks Alec lightly over the head with the bo staff. “Pay attention. Don’t bother with him. He’s just taking Mendez’s advice and keeping an eye on the two broken men he’d set his way.”

Pentecost apparently makes his own judgements about them. ‘A spectacular working relationship, and a spectacular Jaeger team’, the large man says. James and Alec nod at him, accepting the praise mutely, as they do. They aren’t here to get medals or win awards. They are here to fight Kaiju, and so far, there wasn’t much of that.

They run into Doctor Newton Geiszler (“‘Newt’, please. Only my mother calls me Doctor.”) and Doctor Hermann Gottlieb, and holy HELL those two are a pair. Insane. Mental. Alec develops a rather strange attachment to them. He says that they are hilarious. James isn’t too sure. If those are the two men that are the research team for the whole of the Shatterdome…he doesn’t hold out too much hope for their survival.

Despite himself, he thinks that with a smile.

The man who’d arrived just after them is a man that James likes. Really, actually likes. He can’t help it. Raleigh is just a likeable man, it seems. Calm, reserved, smart. Worldly. Strong. Soft-spoken. He’s also battle-proven, and once James learns his last name, he knows where he’d seen him before.

Raleigh Becket, the infamous pilot of Gipsy Danger. One of only two men to ever pilot a Jaeger solo.

The other one is Pentecost.

Raleigh smiles, soft and kind, when James nods at him and says, “Michael.”

“Yancy,” he responds with a sigh.

James nods again, and there’s the basic friendship he’d wanted from someone who wasn’t Alec. Because Alec was more. Much more. He was James’ partner.

Neither one of them look too far into that, how two people who aren’t even remotely related could be drift compatible while bringing all the damned _baggage_ into the drift with them. It’s a place neither of them really want to look, either, because it could become complicated, and complicated in their world is messy, and no one wants that. No. One.

  
  
  
  


 

Speaking of complicated - there’s a tech. Well, not really a ‘tech’, per say. He works with Newt and Dr. Gottlieb a lot. Drinks a lot of what passes for coffee and tea in the Shatterdome, complains a little about what passes for coffee and tea in the Shatterdome and wanders around inviting people to his quarters for ‘real tea, not the utter shit that comes in little floaty bags that barely even steep the right way and when you leave them in too long it becomes something really not palatable and for the love of GOD where the hell did that Kaiju scale go?’. No one ever takes him up on his offer, though, and he just continues on his merry little way. James wonders why people ignore the kid, he seems nice enough, if a bit...flighty. He flits around the floor like some skittery creature, popping up in the strangest places.

Right now, he’s hovering a hundred feet off the ground, attached to the scaffolding in front of Assassin Black by a single safety wire, muttering loudly at the kneecap of the Jaeger above his head and taking notes in a little notepad. James looks up and laughs at the scrap of a man, wondering why the sight of someone talking to an inanimate object is funny to him when he does the same damned thing.

He turns to walk away again, since he is heading to the sparring room to meet up with Alec and he doesn’t want to be late because then Alec will complain and be an utter prat all night and won’t let him sleep... A small bolt clangs to the deck, making him freeze, and then the technician is hanging upside down in front of him, his tools all in disarray on his slim hips and a look of utter confusion on his face. The blasted notebook is still in his white-knuckled grip.

James looks back up; the scaffolding had obviously come apart at the seams, which is why there’s a tech hanging upside down by his safety harness in front of him. He looks back down, and the man hasn’t moved much, trapped as he was. He wiggles a little, and smiles awkwardly at James.

“Hello.”

“Hmm,” the tech-not a tech hums at him. “Lovely day, isn’t it? You’re part of Assassin Black, aren’t you? I think you are. You seem like you would be. James Bond, yes? Good afternoon, and welcome to Hong Kong. It’s a thing, you see. I...well, I don’t have much luck with scaffoldings. They tend to. Um. Fall apart while I’m on them. It’s one of many things that I can’t seem to fix around here. Well, at least no one will fix them for me.” The man blinks, then holds out his grubby hand. “My name is Q.”

“Ah. Hello, Q.” James shakes his hand. “Would you like some help?”

“No, I think I have…” Q grunts, flicks his hands around his harness, and crashes to the ground at James’ feet with a surprised yelp. “...it. Ow. That didn’t feel great. Like I said, it’s a thing. And I’m beyond delighted that there’s another Briton around to help me handle Pentecost. The man’s a locked vault. Can’t get him to talk to me, but he’s got a good eye for tea.” Q scrambles to his feet, and seems to realise that he’s talking quite too much. “Oh. Um.” His face scrunches up into a moue of embarrassment. He picks at his fingernails for a little bit, then plays with the unruly mop of brown hair on top of his head for a little bit. He chews at his bottom lip for a little bit, then blinks, his face lighting up with sudden glee. “You are British. You like tea, don’t you? Care to come back to my little postage stamp of a bunk and have some?”

“I’d hate to spoil what could be a fantastic night, but I don’t fancy tea, no. Coffee, possibly.” James feels bad suddenly for turning Q down. “Do you have good coffee?”

The happy expression quails a tiny bit, but is still camped out on Q’s face. “Heavens no. That’s even harder to get a hold of than good tea! Though, if I manage to get some, I would be delighted to share it with you.”

“Do you drink?” James is trying his best, because a small part of his heart is swelling with fondness of this strange creature who is obviously just trying to find a friend in this frightening world of Kaiju and Jaegers and soldiers.

“Not really. Not often. Sometimes.” Q cocks his head and smiles. “Once again, if I get my hands -”

“I’ve got a bit left from my travels, before the world went to shit.” James holds out his hand again, and Q grasps it, firmer than before. “2200, C-2. You can meet my partner.”

“That would be splendid!”

  
  
  


 

 

Suppertime in the mess hall brings another fight, but one that James can’t help but get involved in.

Two Rangers are picking on poor Q.

James strode over, ready to annihilate the two bastards, when Q whipped around and cracked one over the head with his Toughbook, and kicked the other between the legs. The one hit with the laptop crumpled immediately, and the second one got a knee to the face when he tried getting back up, wheezing and cursing Q.

James halts two feet away, and Q shoots him a thumbs-up.

Fondness gathers up another emotion - respect. Well, on top of the healthy dose of  _Oh God, yes._

Alec bumps into James from behind. “Hey. You’ve got eyes on the kid, don’t you?”

“His name is Q.” James leans back against Alec and sighs. “And yeah, I do.” He moves away again. “Don’t you?”

Alec hums in thought. “I do, now.”

James laughs.

Alarms blare, and they are on the move, all thoughts of food forgotten.

  
  
  
  
  


It’s a surprise when, instead of the usual team guiding them into the neural link, it’s Q.

“I thought you work on the Jaegers.” James is confused, and Alec can feel it through the pre-link...link they have. Whatever the hell it is.

“Oh, sometimes, when I’m bored. Usually, I’m up here with Tendo.”

“Ah.”

“Are we still on for tonight, then?”

James nods as much as he can while locked into the harness. “Definitely. You bring the mugs.” Despite Q not being able to see him, he winks.

“Of course. Q out.”

Alec snorts when the comm is shut off for a moment. “You are tripping over air with him, James.”

“Oh, shut your face.”

“Asshole. And what's tonight? What are you two doing?”

“Prick.” James smirks. "And we are going to be drinking, if we survive this Kaiju."

“Boys.” Tendo’s got a smile in his voice. “Thirty seconds to neural handshake. Let’s make it a good one, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah.” James and Alec settle into their battle harnesses and get ready to kick some Kaiju arse.

“Fifteen seconds to handshake.”

James grunts in acknowledgement, his muscles flexing and relaxing in the drive suit. His hands clench into fists, and he breathes through the sudden apprehension. Beside him, Alec is outwardly calm, standing still and smiling.

James knows better.

“Neural handshake commencing in five. Four. Three. Two. One -”

James closes his eyes as the drift takes hold.

  
  
  
  


 

_Naval academy. A hand on his shoulder._

_“English, it isn’t my native...language? I think you can -”_

_“Help you learn it?”_

_“Spasibo, comrade.”_

_A fight breaking out in a mess hall, not the Shatterdome, but at the Academy. He pulls a man off of his new friend Alec. Alec has a broken nose, but a huge grin on his face. “That was fun! Fighting with you Englishmen is funner than I think!”_

_“More fun, and I’m glad you think that way, Alec.”_

_A week in winter, at Skyfall Lodge, shooting tin cans off the stump of an old tree that had been struck with lightning the summer before. Alec, resplendent in a heavy parka and fur hat, looking very Russian. He tells the man so, and Alec smiles back at him._

_In front of the fireplace. Cool/warm fingers, light against an arm._

_“Is this okay?”_

_Warmer lips against his neck, a light lick of a tongue, exploring possibilities._

_“Of course it is, comrade Trevelyan.” This is said with a smile and a quick kiss. Shirts gone, heavy breathing. Hands roaming over skin already scarred by training. Warmth from the fire, from within themselves. Overwhelming feelings, sensations exploding in his mind. A hot, wet mouth on his cock, not a woman’s but a man’s, and he knows how to respond._

_Alec is standing next to him, looking out over the moor._

_“Time to come back, James.”_

_James turns to him. “Yes. Let’s.”_

 

 

 

 

James opens his eyes again, and he’s back. He looks at Alec, and he’s got the softest smile on his face. “Hi.”

“Hello.”

“Drift is in sync. Handshake is holding at one hundred percent. We are good to go, gentlemen. See you on the other side.” That was Q, sounding awed.

“Acknowledged. Assassin Black is ready for transport. Take us to the enemy.” They start flipping switches, and brace as their command pod is attached to the main body of the Jaeger.

Alec growls deep in his chest as they test the systems for syncronicity. "Go big or go extinct."

"Fuck yes. Let's do this." James' answering smile is more like a snarl.

The lights go up, and they walk Assassin Black out to the helicopters.

 

 

 


End file.
